Matterhorn

Mac Dekker, Book 1

By: Christopher Reich

Narrated by: Paul Michael

A sudden family death and an old nemesis bring retired agent Mac Dekker in from the cold in this alpine thriller from New York Times bestselling author Christopher Reich.

Robbie Steinhardt lives a peaceful life. A fixture of his small alpine village, he tends cattle, minds his own business, and doesn’t dwell on his former life and the family and lover he left behind—back when he was Mac Dekker, CIA.

But when he learns his son Will died following in his footsteps, he needs answers. What mission took Will up into the alpine heights, and why is Ilya Ivashka on the same trail? Ilya—his close friend, his rival in love. Ilya, who framed Mac for treason and sent him into hiding.

Wiping away the years, Mac returns to the field to find the secrets Will hid and finds himself facing the Herculean task of stopping a terrorist plot that threatens thousands. But in a field of double agents, who can he trust?

©2024 Christopher Reich (P)2024 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“Reich keeps his foot on the gas…”—Publishers Weekly

“This would make a great movie, and fans of the Bond tales and special-ops action novels should add this to their reading lists.”—Library Journal

“Another winner from a consistently satisfying writer.”—Booklist

Serviceable

What started out interesting stalled in a middle that spent way too much time on setting the game board. And everybody seemed to know everybody else … which was hard to swallow given how many years Mac Dekker was out of the game. I think the biggest thing that made this fade into the background was using the same narrator as in several of his other series, such as Simon Riske.

Thus, this is another book with the same author, narrator, and single, white, middle-aged male MC with special skills, finding danger in Europe. I suppose I might get book 2 on sale and hope for improvement, but at present I can’t really summon the enthusiasm.

Not one of Reich’s better…

The book was entertaining and fast moving from time to time. Characters and character development was poor, slow,and sloppy.

The book didn’t really gain any inertia until about the last 30 to 35% of the book and that would’ve been a good place to start the book — you could’ve thrown the first nine hours out and it wouldn’t have really taken away from the story.

This book is a week prequel to the new character and with this, has a foundation that can’t have much but a poor sequel built upon it. This is disappointing.

I must praise Christopher Reich getting more correct about weapons. He correctly identified the changing of a magazine when reloading. However, half a chapter later, he referred to it as a clip, which is incorrect. But one out of two ain’t bad.


I pray Mr. Reich takes his level back up to the book that he’s had in other series

Started Well

I thought the book started well, but towards the end things became too implausible. Not that these types of novels don't contain many unbelievable things, but this had too many. The relationships between all of the characters were one of the bigger farfetched parts of the book. Some events that occurred were too convenient or outlandish to accept. I also thought the ending was rushed with everything wrapping up quickly. I wanted to hear more about Nadia and Katya's journey and their meeting up Mac for the first time.

Overall, not original but decently entertaining for a free book. I don't regret reading it. I'm on the fence if I will read the second book when it comes out.

Action Packed Matterhorn Spy Thriller

Having recently visited Zermatt, I could not wait to listen to this novel and it never disappointed me. Believable plot and characters with plenty of interesting twists and action. The narration matched the quality of the story. Hope you enjoy it too.

Truly outstanding

Everything from characters (Marines!) to story, writing and narration. Superb! I’d recommend to anyone and everyone.